Travel Tips

RIGHT! the pond is now completed, the large main bed is planted up, the patio finished and sporting a few colourful tubs....

All is just about complete for guests. The new utility room is done and working just fine.

I can now collapse with a clear conscience.....

This is the bathroom we started when intl_dan came to see us before we he went to Rio. I had hoped to have it finished by the time imaniac, aaron7 and atypic came for the meet on 7 August 2004 but it has been completed on 10.10.04.... only two months late.

It is actually quite pleasant. However we had Sooty Dog over for a visit (Gardenboy's new dog) and he promptly rolled in a pile of fox poo, so we had to bath him quickly. He emerged somewhat shell shocked, I don't think he had had too many baths in his life, and certainly none with an audience of grinning poodles. Wash and Go was not on his agenda, more like Roll and Stink.

The latest set of guests used it with delight this past New Year 2006. Roy (Imaniac) Maud and her Mummy came over for the celebrations. I think they were secretly impressed. I was more impressed that the thiing didn't leak....

It was again a very cold morning, so we gave up on pond construction and decided to plan an exciting meal tonight. Then I got fed up and logged on to VT.

You can just see the construction to the left of the picture, as well as the telescope for bird spotting and looking at the stars and moon. Two dogs are also in attendance, peering through the glass door to spot squirrels and The Resident Pheasant, who, happily, has not yet suffered a heart attack from Mickie charging through the undergrowth in search of it. One wonders at the stamina of this pheasant. I can only imagine it is highly neurotic and possibly paranoid at the constant Poodle Threat.

In the latest bout of DIY, I have created a new bedroom. Yes, it looks FINE, in the process, I fell off a ladder and nearly broke my neck, ended up in casualty for 6 hours, dropped the paint roller and Mickie Poodle danced on it to spread white paint all over the carpet, demanded a divorce, and NOW when I have recovered somewhat to paint the guest lounge ceiling, I find that ONE of the poodles has pissed in my paint roller tray..... sigh....

I am checking into a hotel...PERMANENTLY

My friends were SO supportive of me in the forums, thank you all for your kind words of sympathy. BLANE when are you coming to stay? it was your idea in the first place... Dumpy Heaven lol

This is the view from the lounge window taken across the glen. You can just see the houses and the farm. It's too cold in this weather to garden, so I spend time poring over gardening books, sorting my seeds out and drooling over other peoples' gardens in books and magazines. There is a certain charm in the ice crystals, of course, providing you don't end up with frost bite....

I sometimes stand here with a glass of wine and muse. There is something about gazing into the distance that allows the mind to wander without too many boundaries. If you don't have a view, you can always do this is a bath. If you don't have a bath, improvise.

The bushes in the front are hydrangeas. I like them, but they are in the wrong place. At some point they will be moved to create another exciting shrubbery for the dogs to burrow through in search of rabbits and birds. Why all the wildlife continues to populate my garden, I have no idea. They must either be extremely dim or desperate.

Plan A is to have a stunning display of bedding plants all around the house for maximum impact and then visitors can wander at will to discover hidden treasures of rare plants elsewhere in the garden. Plan B is to have the place up to Show Standard by 2007. Plan C is to transport every single rabbit in Scotland to Shetland, where they cannot eat my plants. Ah well, one must have dreams....

Here you can see the bed planted up as it was last summer. I bought a fair few plug plants (petunias) and closely planted them up with geraniums. THIS year I will grow the lot from seed as things are much more organised now. Last year was chaos with far too many things needing attention and work. I hardly grew any vegetables and was beanless due to thieving mice. Little buggers!

The fragrant smell as you walked round the front was amazing and I got a great deal of pleasure each time I walked past. One thing in life that never fades, for me, is the beauty and variance of plants and flowers.

I seen to have more daffodils than I know what to do with! This part of the garden is left wild and I stuffed the trees with nest boxes. The task of repairing and cleaning the boxes was accompanied by much falling off the ladder, dropping the nails in the long grass and trying to stop Molly nicking the hammer...

Still, after clouting myself on the thumb a few times (luckily there are no neighbours to hear) the boxes were passed as weather proof and relined with fibre fill and poodle fur.

The dogs are clipped very short in the spring and (perhaps unwillingly) give up their clean wool to line the boxes... I put the wool into a net bag and hang it by the feeder, the birds help themselves.....